6

moment later the boy disappears into the darkness.

Kevin's heart starts to race, his breathing becomes shallow and shaky, fear overtakes his body. He slowly looks over his shoulder, he sees that the boy hasn't returned. Kevin takes a deep breath and tries to control himself. He takes a step toward where the boy disappeared and notices that the girl standing in front of her house has stopped and turned around to look at him. Her eyes are wide with terror.

The girl is probably about fourteen or fifteen. She has long black hair pulled back tightly into a bun. She is wearing a blue dress with pink and purple flowers adorning it. There aren't any shoes on her feet, and from what Kevin can see, she has bare ankles.

"I...I am sorry..." The girl says quietly.

"For what?" Kevin replies confused.

"Everything...the world, and especially you."

Kevin shakes his head. "I don't understand."

"My name is Lizzie. My parents named me Elizabeth, since my birth date is October 18th. My grandmother told them it means angel. It's also my favorite flower, though I'm not good at naming things or making stuff up."

"Well you've made it up for me."

Lizzie smiles shyly at Kevin. Her smile causes his stomach to flip upside down and his cheeks to warm up a bit. A blush forms on Kevin's face and he quickly looks away.

The two stay quiet for a minute longer, neither wanting to say anything else. Kevin starts to fidget with his hands nervously. He needs to say something to break the awkward silence.

"So where's your mom? Did she come with you?" Kevin breaks the silence, trying to change the topic.

Lizzie shrugs her shoulders and continues looking at him. "She passed away, but I haven't talked to her yet."

"Oh...." Kevin's eyes fill up with tears. How could someone possibly take her own life? Especially when he was sure she loved him.

Lizzie looks over her shoulder before facing Kevin again. "Can I ask you something, Kevin?"

"Yeah, you can ask me anything."

"Is your dad really dead?" Kevin freezes. Is she serious? He knew that she was smart enough to figure out his identity but didn't realize that she cared about the truth.

Kevin looks away for a second, not looking at Lizzie. "It's complicated."

"If it's because of the zombie I saw last week, don't worry I won't tell anybody, I promise."

"Zombie?"

Lizzie nods. "Yeah, it was huge and it had red glowing eyes, and it was eating a bunch of kids."

Kevin gulps. "I know that man, but I'm not afraid of him anymore! He's dead! You should be too!"

"What do you mean, 'he's dead'? So why were you running away from him?"

"I wasn't scared of him! I wanted to get away from him, because...it was terrifying."

"What did you see?"

Kevin's eyes widen when he hears footsteps coming closer from behind him. As soon as he turns around he jumps to the side to avoid an attack.

The boy stops in his tracks and blinks a few times, looking down at the floor confused. After taking another glance at his surroundings, he looks back up at Kevin, narrowing his eyes slightly. Then he charges towards Kevin, raising his hand to strike him. Kevin barely dodges the attack. He pushes himself backwards, putting distance between him and the strange boy. When he does he turns around to face him again, he sees that the boy has dropped the weapon that he holds in his hands. He raises his arm and prepares to grab it again, but before he could the boy runs past him and rushes to his sister.

"Elizabeth! Where is he?" the male voices.

Kevin looks at the man who is now kneeling on the ground.